Continuous City -The Builders Association

“In an age in which many of us have hundreds of online E-friends‚ we've never met, digital media has arguably transformed not just the method but also the meaning of human interaction. ”

On the South Bank Centre, New York’s company - The Builders Association present their multi-media project Continuous City in london for the first time. The show tells the story of the network issue, using social networking technology to keep in touch with people. For all of us, the way of communication and human connection have changed a few years ago, since the high-tech exists. A generation who have grown up with the internet might find the following questions, are we having a real relationship through video chat, or losing real connection because of physically absent?

Back to the process of analysing my practical work, I am thinking about the issue that online social networking has become a really important way for people to maintain connections with both friends and families. It is clear that the Internet extends the possibilities for the intimacy of relationship. However, our embodied experience are increasingly disconnected from the convenience and immateriality of online communication. Turning this idea into theatrical performance, I will continue to examine the nonlinear relationship between physical place and virtual space. In other words online communications are whether building communities or fragmenting personal relationships.

"At first you feel you're in touch with someone you love, and then you feel almost deceived by the technology, because it can be a hollow feeling," says Sinclair, who's also a co-writer of the play. The situation like young people chat with strangers by using MSN or Skype, an intimacy grew up between the two may just take several hours. But the virtual reality may not equals reality. it hard to identify the relationship due to the crash and non-physical communication. People struggle with our real world personality and our online identity which is quite an interesting point of view.

The company make use of the technologies also raise a question about the technologies. That is also my interest with the idea of intimacy and distance. The intimacy promised by the technology impact which is fantastic but unstable. “I started thinking about how specific kinds of technology are being implemented and marketed to the developing world. I'm particularly fascinated by how social networking translates to other cultures.” the director Marianne Weems said in an interview. Both the Wooster Group and the Builders Association explored cultural symbols within their performance which insprit me a lot.

PPD continuous

work on my website last week. based on what I did last term. I made it too rush at that time, too many mistakes and its unprofessional anyway...

progress:

http://www.disong.co.uk/

start to think about our MA-show poster when I design my site, as font and color was already decided. I'm looking for an abstract image which may give public a simple taste of our show. cause we have enough text and informations, but not visual elements.

progress

sketches for my final show

still think about how to structure these elements. struggle with my dissertation as well...

Outside Exhibition

Our first Exhibition took place in Brike Lane !
I have to say we got effective communication with public. It is a substantial experience that we all gain a lot. Good to received different point of views from audiences.

My main idea was created a serious of fragmented and blurred images. Reflecting my own memory about family, which has also presented on Interim Festival. The shaped paper evoked all of the memory of childhood. A game you can found many countries all over the world. When I tried to project my footage on it, the effect was just what I want.

Temporal Effect

Temporal Effect

Proposed area of work
Temporal Effect is one part of a performance series called RENDERING 53% which presented in MA-Visual Language of Performance Interim Festival. The project brings issues surrounding multimedia and installation, especially the effects of interactive digital video to examine notions of deconstruction of time during performance. Comparing different visual components of a whole storytelling through being process linear time structure and nonlinear time structure, such as movements from dream，memory and real performance time. My goal is to bring multi-dimensional non-linear arrangement of visual language to audiences, created atmosphere and context from visual clues. The performance are intended to stimulate a sense of family relationship from personal manner.
Reasons for the project
The resulting performance inspirited from Chinese traditions and superstitions. For example you have dreams or nightmares it may indicate that you have some emotional worries. This idea tried to blur boundaries of dream, memory and real time. As a test, I present visual fragment by using curve screen, television and lighting. Which is really challenged me to play and frame these crossed and intersected images. Each of the element revealing the absent and present of our life ritual. In other words, these elements existed for real or surreal time on stage, build a multi-angle trust in a relationship. Dreams with symbolic meanings and mythic associations offers performance non-linear narrative possibility.
In addition, to practice idea about my research subject “Time”, I am also interested in this thread that what was once here but now has gone. I was particularly thinking about how to challenge the audience experience past and present time symbol. From this point, I created videos about street scape, candle slightly fade out, things continually move behind the actor.
Processes and Methodology
From the visualized perspective, my creative inspiration comes from the Wooden Gear Clock. Clock as a time machine transforms the notion of objective time. It reminds me the rhythmicity and continuity of life time. As an alternative approach, I want to design an installation on the stage which move with its ordered and continuous following with time (as can be seen from the 3D drafts). And also, a curved screen on the backstage offered no seams from video’s editing. It stand more than one meter of height above the ground. So a shadow from the back of screen could interact with videos and actor at the same time.

Furthermore, the idea of using curved screen may given audience a strong visual impact experience in order to leading them involved. But it still not big enough to offer audiences a wide-field. In analyzing this work, I was really pushed to think how to put concept of this project into practice. It raised many issues that some of my idea still have to get further development. One of the issue is how to make the video works well as my original idea. This work have to be an ongoing investigation into the question of presenting nonlinearity time of the performance through participation in multi-media activities.

Performance laboratory

Waiting For - Interim Festival

Proposed area of work

To start the performance laboratory, I began working with the intension of deconstructing text, attempted to leave for classical narration. Which relates to my research, exploring important performance art form of deconstruct time. In this piece Waiting For, I draws a comparison between Waiting For Godot and an animation to the extent that they both explore the meaning of waiting, revealing what would otherwise remain hidden among these text. Godot’s absence, as well as numerous other aspects of our life, being kept waiting for anyone to come back, for anything good to happen.

Therefore my question is regarding concept of time structure within deconstruction of text, do I need a certain beginning and ending plot? If not, what necessary formation do I have to convey. There could not have conflict in each part of the performance, but each scene revolving round the last scene. Creating a kind of circle structure, the ending is the new beginning, as well as today is to repeat yesterday. As can be seen, fragments presents a sense of absurd meaning.

Reasons for the project

Examine the capabilities and limitations of these forms, live performing occur in alternate clues which also affect the development of a story. That resulting in a dramatic atmosphere as the surface tension. To enhance a very powerful emotions throughout the performance, I intend to combine texts from a animation. As a metaphor, a girl waiting a flower blossom and waiting for Godot comes. She feel like she can waiting for her flower blossem, as well as she can waiting for Godot comes. My original intention which is specific purpose in doing actions like kept walking on a road and sit inside an abstract wood frame, in order to reveal current culture. Reflecting on our life with influence of the concept of simple and fast culture. It is within this framework that I locate my own practice.

Method and Feedback Review

The most important consideration in this case is sounds. I used recording sounds with editing music to structure the whole performance. Actor’s speech also leading audiences into story telling. The pick of famous text from waiting for Godot made audiences realized dramatic context，nobody comes and nothing happens. But as a response to what is currently happening on stage，it created a sense of lonely.

Moreover, the process and discussion feedback has been an important journey for me, and I have to express my idea more clear. The lab question is about ‘have the audience feel got a certain begin and end plot from the performance, Is there a conclusion revealed at the end’. From the audience perspective, it looks no single conclusion and there are a lot of interpretation to be given. That made me more clear about deconstruct text, the information from text itself needed to be interpreted which required critical and analytical method. I have to search more initial question in order to avoid missing the reference point and culture intention.

200% Bloody Thirsty

200% Bloody Thirsty by Forced Entertainment
DVD recording, Review

200% Bloody Thirsty produced by Britain’s leading experimental theatre company Forced Entertainment in 2005. I watched a recording of this piece when I do my research. Forced Entertainment raised many questions concerning contemporary life and performance. The group struggled to find new performance and theatre forms in order to reveal contemporary urban culture. They explores ideas of myth, death and life’s attitude throughout the performance. A strong impression of this piece is the waking up movement in the beginning of each scenes. As a metaphor , it means two angels drop down to the world. This scene seems like a switch to change time and space. It shown me a hint that the next section is going on, and also the waking up action repeated a lot of times.

One of the idea is that the group use of video and monitors offering the audience different view point. Such as Two angels also displayed on their own monitor. When they standing on the “heaven” frame, looking down over the scene and one spoke to one another which discussed what was going on below, that created a sort o f ‘not presence’ like cinema language. There is a sense of playing this moment intimately to canera, leading me focus on its close-up. Tim Etchells point out “I’m interested in how these concerns with mediation inform what the performers themselves are doing, because it seems related to this sense that the performer’s actions and texts are somehow second-hand or being re-phrased or quoted through the performance. It’s as if the performer engage in actions, each of which they sooner or later wake up from”.

Furthermore, 200% Bloody Thirsty move from sequence to sequence, arranged with prerecording sound to live performance, then combine with live sound. Constantly presenting the stillness and chaos movements. Thus from the two angels’ view, drunk people lived in a total chaos and mess world; from the audience view, the two angels trying to evoke dead people looked absurd. Like Etchells indicated “We don’t seek a meaning that has been placed but seek rather the sense of meaning falling into place. A meaning that happens to happen, a feeling that tumbles, a feeling on the very edge of accident”. In a other word, audiences perceiving this work that values the moment where you saw and connected.

Many of their pieces attempted to deconstruct cinematic traditional language. These stage performances employed microphones, sound and visual material, whilst texts came from video and prerecording tapes. Compared with the work from The Wooster Group, they are starting from different intention to play with deconstruction fragments. Forced Entertainment talking about real experiences, set up a prying life space，which have continually come up with something that challenges audiences and also challenges the notion of performance itself. Etchells stated that “you have to think about technology, you have to use it, because in the end, it is in your blood”. However, it is clear that Forced Entertainment is not fascinated with hi-tech equipment. The reason they use of media equipment is to reveal the essential of performance. Because no conditions on stage could be more important than body, language and storytelling.